Best ways to record your guitar/bass into your computer

[No Nice Guy]

So I see this question brought up a LOT online.  I thought I'd give you guys a good guide.

First of all, why should you listen to me?  Well I've been going to music production school for about a year now, I've been learning all about sound and mixing and hardware and all that stuff. 

Anyway, first off if you're going to record into your computer, you need a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), such as GarageBand.  If you aren't serious about it, GarageBand suffices.  https://reverb.com/blog/the-best-free-recording-software-three-economic-daws-to-get-started If you want to spend a bit more money (or pirate softwares), Apple Logic has good guitar effects, Ableton Live is a lot better in my personal opinion (though some disagree with me).  People here will probably like Logic more, but if you wanna do more production work def look into Ableton.

Second, you need an audio interface, which basically takes 1/4 inch and sometimes 5pin MIDI cables or even 3pin XLR cables.  http://www.sweetwater.com/shop/computer-audio/audio_interfaces/ Talk to someone at your local Guitar Center about this

Third (and opitionally) you could use a plug-in for amp simulation.  For example, the one I use is called AmpliTube (http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/cat-view.php?C=family-amplitube), another popular one is Guitar Rig (http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/guitar/guitar-rig-5-pro/), and the coolest one which I wish I had is called Bias (https://www.positivegrid.com/bias-desktop/)

Any questions feel free to ask, I like helping people out.  Also if you need help with anything related to music production, mixing/mastering, recording, etc I'd be glad to answer questions.

[Buffered]

Good stuff, but I think GarageBand is a great program - I'm pretty serious about recording and I use it.

[No Nice Guy]

Good stuff, but I think GarageBand is a great program - I'm pretty serious about recording and I use it.

I never said it wasn't - I'm merely saying it's one of the less powerful DAW's out there.  Logic, which is also made by Apple, is literally Garageband on meth on crack on steroids.

[Buffered]

Good stuff, but I think GarageBand is a great program - I'm pretty serious about recording and I use it.

I never said it wasn't - I'm merely saying it's one of the less powerful DAW's out there.  Logic, which is also made by Apple, is literally Garageband on meth on crack on steroids.

True, I haven't explored the pricier DAWs. Does Logic have MIDI instruments? I'm making lots of backing tracks these days and recording the results.

[No Nice Guy]

Good stuff, but I think GarageBand is a great program - I'm pretty serious about recording and I use it.

I never said it wasn't - I'm merely saying it's one of the less powerful DAW's out there.  Logic, which is also made by Apple, is literally Garageband on meth on crack on steroids.

True, I haven't explored the pricier DAWs. Does Logic have MIDI instruments? I'm making lots of backing tracks these days and recording the results.

Yes!  It has incredibly nice models of many famous electric pianos/organs, a pretty ok grand piano/orchestra section and some basic synths, as well as built in guitar amp modelers and a 'pedalboard'.  I haven't tried those because I use one of those plugins which are specifically made for amp modeling.  Oh man do they do well (and they have 'perfect' models of every famous pedal ever like tubescreamer, phase90, mutron, muff, etc which sound pretty bomb).  Logic also has a pretty good sampler.

Ableton, on the other hand has some incredibly powerful synthesizers, and a lot of useful tools for just making shit up quickly, but it's appeal is less for people here I'd say, because it doesn't have built in guitar effects and holy shit does it's amp modeler suck.  But with a plugin it's arguably as good as if not better than logic, although the presets for MIDI instruments (like say, the clav, or a B3) won't have a window that looks like the actual thing it's modeling - just the synthesizer or sampler the preset is made with.  Oh man is Ableton's Sampler powerful.  

If you're trying to just record things (guitar, drums, vocals, etc) in and get them to sound decent without spending tons of money/pirating tons of software for emulating them on a professional level, using minimal MIDI effects, Logic is absolutely the way to go.  They have some very nice models of famous studio compressors and limiters and shit like that which have been used on every famous record you ever loved.

If you're trying to make stuff with some audio recorded in, but you want to chop it up and mess with the samples, use any type of synthesizer, or even make your own MIDI drum beats, I'd say Ableton is def the way to go - you won't get your stuff sounding amazing, but it has a really nice interface.  I'm kinda biased because I use it, but I've also been trying to make some kinda electronic funk lately so I need some kinda crazy synth for that - besides I get free access to the 'professional' softwares when I'm at school.

[bigebeer]

OP has solid info. The only thing I'd argue with is talking to someone at GC about interfaces. I worke there for a couple years in my early 20s and those guys don't know anything. Talk to some local recording professionals or knowledgeable people around here or TGP.

Added advice, check out reaper for another free DAW

[No Nice Guy]

OP has solid info. The only thing I'd argue with is talking to someone at GC about interfaces. I worke there for a couple years in my early 20s and those guys don't know anything. Talk to some local recording professionals or knowledgeable people around here or TGP.

Added advice, check out reaper for another free DAW

Ok well I live in a big city so the GC people here actually know their shit

Reaper is an amazing fee DAW, it's in that list I put in my post.

[Heady Jam Fan]

This is good info, thanks!

I've been recording for the last 17 years, originally with Cubase/Cakewalk. I only studied recording briefly at school, but we used Protools. Now I use Garageband, and I agree there are some major gaps in the program, but its definitely good enough for me and my band's demo's. Some of the gaps in the program make it much more tedious to do the fine-editing work on tracks, as compared to Protools, which we've been using in the studio. For example, punch recording and crossfading.

I would add a couple hardware caveats to No Nice Guy's original post. An interface is the gateway between your guitar and computer. Speed and quality are important. My understanding is that Apple's new technology (Thunderbolt?) is the fastest, followed by Firewire and then USB. If you use USB, you might be limited to how many inputs, and what other programs your computer can be running before you start to notice a lag, in my experience. As far as quality, some interfaces have decent mic preamps. The Presonus I use now sounds much better than M-Audio interfaces I've used. A lot of studio's put a lot of money into high-quality, separate mic-preamps, especially if there are long cable runs.

And the last thought I had was about getting the sound into the interface! For bass, I almost always go DI. For guitar, you want a good microphone - I much prefer this over software simulations. At the studio, they wanted to complement the guitar amps with an Eleven Rack, and it sounded plastic to me. However, a good mic doesn't cost a lot - an SM57 sounds great, as does an Audix i5. I also have an Audio Technica condenser mic (AT4040 IIRC), which gives a flatter response but I think it can distort if the guitar is too loud. I like using both the SM57 and Audix i5, right on the grill cloth at the center of the speaker, and panning one left, and one right.

The thing I've been struggling the most with recently is mastering. In particular, getting the loudness of a studio recording without artifacts like excessive pumping. I expect there are a few reasons I might be struggling with this. I don't know that much about mastering and limiters - I don't know if the software limiters are even decent on Garageband (or the other ones I've downloaded) and I do know studio's seem to much prefer hardware compressors, and I also don't know the ins-and-outs of setting up these types of compression (small changes to the attack and release have significant impacts). I know some studio engineers use multiple layers of compression, and I find I get a better result setting up a few more subtle stages of compression rather than one set more extreme.

[No Nice Guy]

This is good info, thanks!

I've been recording for the last 17 years, originally with Cubase/Cakewalk. I only studied recording briefly at school, but we used Protools. Now I use Garageband, and I agree there are some major gaps in the program, but its definitely good enough for me and my band's demo's. Some of the gaps in the program make it much more tedious to do the fine-editing work on tracks, as compared to Protools, which we've been using in the studio. For example, punch recording and crossfading.

I would add a couple hardware caveats to No Nice Guy's original post. An interface is the gateway between your guitar and computer. Speed and quality are important. My understanding is that Apple's new technology (Thunderbolt?) is the fastest, followed by Firewire and then USB. If you use USB, you might be limited to how many inputs, and what other programs your computer can be running before you start to notice a lag, in my experience. As far as quality, some interfaces have decent mic preamps. The Presonus I use now sounds much better than M-Audio interfaces I've used. A lot of studio's put a lot of money into high-quality, separate mic-preamps, especially if there are long cable runs.

And the last thought I had was about getting the sound into the interface! For bass, I almost always go DI. For guitar, you want a good microphone - I much prefer this over software simulations. At the studio, they wanted to complement the guitar amps with an Eleven Rack, and it sounded plastic to me. However, a good mic doesn't cost a lot - an SM57 sounds great, as does an Audix i5. I also have an Audio Technica condenser mic (AT4040 IIRC), which gives a flatter response but I think it can distort if the guitar is too loud. I like using both the SM57 and Audix i5, right on the grill cloth at the center of the speaker, and panning one left, and one right.

The thing I've been struggling the most with recently is mastering. In particular, getting the loudness of a studio recording without artifacts like excessive pumping. I expect there are a few reasons I might be struggling with this. I don't know that much about mastering and limiters - I don't know if the software limiters are even decent on Garageband (or the other ones I've downloaded) and I do know studio's seem to much prefer hardware compressors, and I also don't know the ins-and-outs of setting up these types of compression (small changes to the attack and release have significant impacts). I know some studio engineers use multiple layers of compression, and I find I get a better result setting up a few more subtle stages of compression rather than one set more extreme.

So a note on each bit of your post:

1.  On DAW's - sounds to me like an upgrade to Logic is exactly what you need.  It's Garageband on crack on meth on steroids etc.  Pro Tools is what my teachers for mixing and mastering use (and some of these guys are serious pros... like one mastered for Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G, Nikki Minaj, and several more huge names).

2.  On the interfaces quality - a decent quality interface will run you no more than $200 - Most nowadays have 1/4inch ins along with XLR - thus the sound you're getting in from guitar and bass are straight outta the pickups (although I guess if you're tryina mic your amp though...)  I would absolutely look into some plug-in solutions for when you're recording, you'll get a BEAUTIFUL tone.  Look into the plugins I recommended in the OP.

3.  On mastering - Garageband's native effects are all utter shit.  Logic has some pretty good quality compressors and limiters for both guitar (in it's 'pedalboard') and models of many famous rackmount compression units.  For this I'd get yourself a pair of studio monitors, and a good EQ plugin.  My teachers all say they combine both digital models of some famous hardware (channel strips, EQ's, limiters, comps, etc), and occasionally physical ones, but hardware is annoying to setup with your studio.  The other thing that's important is HAVE A SECOND SET OF SPEAKERS TO A/B WITH!!!!  Also on the multiple layers of compression, yeah my teacher did one track another student brought in for us all... Each track had at least 5 comps....

[Heady Jam Fan]

This is good info, thanks!

I've been recording for the last 17 years, originally with Cubase/Cakewalk. I only studied recording briefly at school, but we used Protools. Now I use Garageband, and I agree there are some major gaps in the program, but its definitely good enough for me and my band's demo's. Some of the gaps in the program make it much more tedious to do the fine-editing work on tracks, as compared to Protools, which we've been using in the studio. For example, punch recording and crossfading.

I would add a couple hardware caveats to No Nice Guy's original post. An interface is the gateway between your guitar and computer. Speed and quality are important. My understanding is that Apple's new technology (Thunderbolt?) is the fastest, followed by Firewire and then USB. If you use USB, you might be limited to how many inputs, and what other programs your computer can be running before you start to notice a lag, in my experience. As far as quality, some interfaces have decent mic preamps. The Presonus I use now sounds much better than M-Audio interfaces I've used. A lot of studio's put a lot of money into high-quality, separate mic-preamps, especially if there are long cable runs.

And the last thought I had was about getting the sound into the interface! For bass, I almost always go DI. For guitar, you want a good microphone - I much prefer this over software simulations. At the studio, they wanted to complement the guitar amps with an Eleven Rack, and it sounded plastic to me. However, a good mic doesn't cost a lot - an SM57 sounds great, as does an Audix i5. I also have an Audio Technica condenser mic (AT4040 IIRC), which gives a flatter response but I think it can distort if the guitar is too loud. I like using both the SM57 and Audix i5, right on the grill cloth at the center of the speaker, and panning one left, and one right.

The thing I've been struggling the most with recently is mastering. In particular, getting the loudness of a studio recording without artifacts like excessive pumping. I expect there are a few reasons I might be struggling with this. I don't know that much about mastering and limiters - I don't know if the software limiters are even decent on Garageband (or the other ones I've downloaded) and I do know studio's seem to much prefer hardware compressors, and I also don't know the ins-and-outs of setting up these types of compression (small changes to the attack and release have significant impacts). I know some studio engineers use multiple layers of compression, and I find I get a better result setting up a few more subtle stages of compression rather than one set more extreme.

So a note on each bit of your post:

1.  On DAW's - sounds to me like an upgrade to Logic is exactly what you need.  It's Garageband on crack on meth on steroids etc.  Pro Tools is what my teachers for mixing and mastering use (and some of these guys are serious pros... like one mastered for Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G, Nikki Minaj, and several more huge names).

2.  On the interfaces quality - a decent quality interface will run you no more than $200 - Most nowadays have 1/4inch ins along with XLR - thus the sound you're getting in from guitar and bass are straight outta the pickups (although I guess if you're tryina mic your amp though...)  I would absolutely look into some plug-in solutions for when you're recording, you'll get a BEAUTIFUL tone.  Look into the plugins I recommended in the OP.

3.  On mastering - Garageband's native effects are all utter shit.  Logic has some pretty good quality compressors and limiters for both guitar (in it's 'pedalboard') and models of many famous rackmount compression units.  For this I'd get yourself a pair of studio monitors, and a good EQ plugin.  My teachers all say they combine both digital models of some famous hardware (channel strips, EQ's, limiters, comps, etc), and occasionally physical ones, but hardware is annoying to setup with your studio.  The other thing that's important is HAVE A SECOND SET OF SPEAKERS TO A/B WITH!!!!  Also on the multiple layers of compression, yeah my teacher did one track another student brought in for us all... Each track had at least 5 comps....

Interesting about the compressors. I usually use a couple on each track (1-3) and a few for mastering (and a comp or two and a limiter or two). I don't know if I can afford (or will purchase) Logic just now, but I wonder if I can get some better compression plugins. I also know I could use some monitors - I almost bought some. But every time I bought, people tried to talk me into ones I couldn't afford, then I was done editing recordings! I mostly use my ATM50 headphones, which I know are not ideal, but I know their frequency response really well. I also edit on several home stereo systems just to double check. It gets pricey when you add all these details in!

[No Nice Guy]

This is good info, thanks!

I've been recording for the last 17 years, originally with Cubase/Cakewalk. I only studied recording briefly at school, but we used Protools. Now I use Garageband, and I agree there are some major gaps in the program, but its definitely good enough for me and my band's demo's. Some of the gaps in the program make it much more tedious to do the fine-editing work on tracks, as compared to Protools, which we've been using in the studio. For example, punch recording and crossfading.

I would add a couple hardware caveats to No Nice Guy's original post. An interface is the gateway between your guitar and computer. Speed and quality are important. My understanding is that Apple's new technology (Thunderbolt?) is the fastest, followed by Firewire and then USB. If you use USB, you might be limited to how many inputs, and what other programs your computer can be running before you start to notice a lag, in my experience. As far as quality, some interfaces have decent mic preamps. The Presonus I use now sounds much better than M-Audio interfaces I've used. A lot of studio's put a lot of money into high-quality, separate mic-preamps, especially if there are long cable runs.

And the last thought I had was about getting the sound into the interface! For bass, I almost always go DI. For guitar, you want a good microphone - I much prefer this over software simulations. At the studio, they wanted to complement the guitar amps with an Eleven Rack, and it sounded plastic to me. However, a good mic doesn't cost a lot - an SM57 sounds great, as does an Audix i5. I also have an Audio Technica condenser mic (AT4040 IIRC), which gives a flatter response but I think it can distort if the guitar is too loud. I like using both the SM57 and Audix i5, right on the grill cloth at the center of the speaker, and panning one left, and one right.

The thing I've been struggling the most with recently is mastering. In particular, getting the loudness of a studio recording without artifacts like excessive pumping. I expect there are a few reasons I might be struggling with this. I don't know that much about mastering and limiters - I don't know if the software limiters are even decent on Garageband (or the other ones I've downloaded) and I do know studio's seem to much prefer hardware compressors, and I also don't know the ins-and-outs of setting up these types of compression (small changes to the attack and release have significant impacts). I know some studio engineers use multiple layers of compression, and I find I get a better result setting up a few more subtle stages of compression rather than one set more extreme.

So a note on each bit of your post:

1.  On DAW's - sounds to me like an upgrade to Logic is exactly what you need.  It's Garageband on crack on meth on steroids etc.  Pro Tools is what my teachers for mixing and mastering use (and some of these guys are serious pros... like one mastered for Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G, Nikki Minaj, and several more huge names).

2.  On the interfaces quality - a decent quality interface will run you no more than $200 - Most nowadays have 1/4inch ins along with XLR - thus the sound you're getting in from guitar and bass are straight outta the pickups (although I guess if you're tryina mic your amp though...)  I would absolutely look into some plug-in solutions for when you're recording, you'll get a BEAUTIFUL tone.  Look into the plugins I recommended in the OP.

3.  On mastering - Garageband's native effects are all utter shit.  Logic has some pretty good quality compressors and limiters for both guitar (in it's 'pedalboard') and models of many famous rackmount compression units.  For this I'd get yourself a pair of studio monitors, and a good EQ plugin.  My teachers all say they combine both digital models of some famous hardware (channel strips, EQ's, limiters, comps, etc), and occasionally physical ones, but hardware is annoying to setup with your studio.  The other thing that's important is HAVE A SECOND SET OF SPEAKERS TO A/B WITH!!!!  Also on the multiple layers of compression, yeah my teacher did one track another student brought in for us all... Each track had at least 5 comps....

Interesting about the compressors. I usually use a couple on each track (1-3) and a few for mastering (and a comp or two and a limiter or two). I don't know if I can afford (or will purchase) Logic just now, but I wonder if I can get some better compression plugins. I also know I could use some monitors - I almost bought some. But every time I bought, people tried to talk me into ones I couldn't afford, then I was done editing recordings! I mostly use my ATM50 headphones, which I know are not ideal, but I know their frequency response really well. I also edit on several home stereo systems just to double check. It gets pricey when you add all these details in!

Yes, Logic is pretty pricey, I will quietly state that I know a pretty free way to (not quite legally) get it, but I'll assume you're not interested in that.

As for plugins, there are way too many for me to even start to recommend one.  If you want a good one-in-all mixing plugin, go for Izotope Alloy (https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mixing-mastering/alloy/), it includes a very very VERY nice EQ, Compressor (2 of them), limiter, de-esser, and several more incredibly useful tools.  If you just want some compressors or effects, there's too many for me to recommend.

For monitors, I'd get these:  http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Rokit5G3 if you can - I have a very close friend who has multiple pairs of these (and sold me one for super cheap!) who's getting signed by pretty much the biggest record label in the EDM world soon.  Several other producers I know use them.  Another recommendation for monitors I have is these ones (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LSR305).  If my friend didn't have the extra KrKs I would've bought those - I know several amateur producers who use these with great results.  If you're not a professional mixer or at least in a touring band where you need the best of the best sound, I wouldn't say you necessarily need something crazy like 8+ inch monitors. 

I uploaded these two images from school - one is a chart on compression times, the other is a simple frequency map, useful if you wanna get good at mixing (https://imgur.com/a/xk5kS).

[Heady Jam Fan]

This is good info, thanks!

I've been recording for the last 17 years, originally with Cubase/Cakewalk. I only studied recording briefly at school, but we used Protools. Now I use Garageband, and I agree there are some major gaps in the program, but its definitely good enough for me and my band's demo's. Some of the gaps in the program make it much more tedious to do the fine-editing work on tracks, as compared to Protools, which we've been using in the studio. For example, punch recording and crossfading.

I would add a couple hardware caveats to No Nice Guy's original post. An interface is the gateway between your guitar and computer. Speed and quality are important. My understanding is that Apple's new technology (Thunderbolt?) is the fastest, followed by Firewire and then USB. If you use USB, you might be limited to how many inputs, and what other programs your computer can be running before you start to notice a lag, in my experience. As far as quality, some interfaces have decent mic preamps. The Presonus I use now sounds much better than M-Audio interfaces I've used. A lot of studio's put a lot of money into high-quality, separate mic-preamps, especially if there are long cable runs.

And the last thought I had was about getting the sound into the interface! For bass, I almost always go DI. For guitar, you want a good microphone - I much prefer this over software simulations. At the studio, they wanted to complement the guitar amps with an Eleven Rack, and it sounded plastic to me. However, a good mic doesn't cost a lot - an SM57 sounds great, as does an Audix i5. I also have an Audio Technica condenser mic (AT4040 IIRC), which gives a flatter response but I think it can distort if the guitar is too loud. I like using both the SM57 and Audix i5, right on the grill cloth at the center of the speaker, and panning one left, and one right.

The thing I've been struggling the most with recently is mastering. In particular, getting the loudness of a studio recording without artifacts like excessive pumping. I expect there are a few reasons I might be struggling with this. I don't know that much about mastering and limiters - I don't know if the software limiters are even decent on Garageband (or the other ones I've downloaded) and I do know studio's seem to much prefer hardware compressors, and I also don't know the ins-and-outs of setting up these types of compression (small changes to the attack and release have significant impacts). I know some studio engineers use multiple layers of compression, and I find I get a better result setting up a few more subtle stages of compression rather than one set more extreme.

So a note on each bit of your post:

1.  On DAW's - sounds to me like an upgrade to Logic is exactly what you need.  It's Garageband on crack on meth on steroids etc.  Pro Tools is what my teachers for mixing and mastering use (and some of these guys are serious pros... like one mastered for Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G, Nikki Minaj, and several more huge names).

2.  On the interfaces quality - a decent quality interface will run you no more than $200 - Most nowadays have 1/4inch ins along with XLR - thus the sound you're getting in from guitar and bass are straight outta the pickups (although I guess if you're tryina mic your amp though...)  I would absolutely look into some plug-in solutions for when you're recording, you'll get a BEAUTIFUL tone.  Look into the plugins I recommended in the OP.

3.  On mastering - Garageband's native effects are all utter shit.  Logic has some pretty good quality compressors and limiters for both guitar (in it's 'pedalboard') and models of many famous rackmount compression units.  For this I'd get yourself a pair of studio monitors, and a good EQ plugin.  My teachers all say they combine both digital models of some famous hardware (channel strips, EQ's, limiters, comps, etc), and occasionally physical ones, but hardware is annoying to setup with your studio.  The other thing that's important is HAVE A SECOND SET OF SPEAKERS TO A/B WITH!!!!  Also on the multiple layers of compression, yeah my teacher did one track another student brought in for us all... Each track had at least 5 comps....

Interesting about the compressors. I usually use a couple on each track (1-3) and a few for mastering (and a comp or two and a limiter or two). I don't know if I can afford (or will purchase) Logic just now, but I wonder if I can get some better compression plugins. I also know I could use some monitors - I almost bought some. But every time I bought, people tried to talk me into ones I couldn't afford, then I was done editing recordings! I mostly use my ATM50 headphones, which I know are not ideal, but I know their frequency response really well. I also edit on several home stereo systems just to double check. It gets pricey when you add all these details in!

Yes, Logic is pretty pricey, I will quietly state that I know a pretty free way to (not quite legally) get it, but I'll assume you're not interested in that.

As for plugins, there are way too many for me to even start to recommend one.  If you want a good one-in-all mixing plugin, go for Izotope Alloy (https://www.izotope.com/en/products/mixing-mastering/alloy/), it includes a very very VERY nice EQ, Compressor (2 of them), limiter, de-esser, and several more incredibly useful tools.  If you just want some compressors or effects, there's too many for me to recommend.

For monitors, I'd get these:  http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Rokit5G3 if you can - I have a very close friend who has multiple pairs of these (and sold me one for super cheap!) who's getting signed by pretty much the biggest record label in the EDM world soon.  Several other producers I know use them.  Another recommendation for monitors I have is these ones (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LSR305).  If my friend didn't have the extra KrKs I would've bought those - I know several amateur producers who use these with great results.  If you're not a professional mixer or at least in a touring band where you need the best of the best sound, I wouldn't say you necessarily need something crazy like 8+ inch monitors. 

I uploaded these two images from school - one is a chart on compression times, the other is a simple frequency map, useful if you wanna get good at mixing (https://imgur.com/a/xk5kS).

Thanks man! I appreciate the info.

I was using a plugin called Melda for some of my compression. I just downloaded a few free compress and limiters that I like more. That chart is helpful, too. Whenever I'm compressing, I'm often thinking about the initial attack and the tail of the note separately. For example, if I am setting up a few layers of compression, I might set one up that is ideal for catching the transient/attack, and one for the overall note. A few compressors seem to deal with both at once, where you can set up a pretty typical, well-rounded compression and then there is a built in limiter for an really peaky transients.

I looked into both of those speakers - they seemed like really good bang-for-buck options, and I'd consider those if I got around to setting up some monitors for recording.

[Heady Jam Fan]

I tried a handful of compressors over the last few days and I really liked this compressor/limiter:

https://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/limiter6/

I don't know how it compares to some of the ones you gotta pay for, but its free, flexible and pretty transparent.

[No Nice Guy]

I tried a handful of compressors over the last few days and I really liked this compressor/limiter:

https://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/limiter6/

I don't know how it compares to some of the ones you gotta pay for, but its free, flexible and pretty transparent.

I've used it a few times now, it works pretty well for mixing, I would definitely never use this for mastering.  If you wanna waste time on mixing, put this on each of your tracks and make them sound nice with each other.

[Heady Jam Fan]

I tried a handful of compressors over the last few days and I really liked this compressor/limiter:

https://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/limiter6/

I don't know how it compares to some of the ones you gotta pay for, but its free, flexible and pretty transparent.

I've used it a few times now, it works pretty well for mixing, I would definitely never use this for mastering.  If you wanna waste time on mixing, put this on each of your tracks and make them sound nice with each other.

I'm interested in your opinion regarding what didn't you like about it for mastering? What do you mean by waste time on mixing - gotta mix before you master, right?

I found when I used it for mastering, I could get a nice loudness and punchiness, but it doesn't "glue" the tracks together the way some other compressors do (making the entire song sound cohesive). I'm not sure why that is though.